The Obama administration has done a good job thus far

of allowing the Republicans to paint themselves into a corner.

It is well established that Republicans would take the blame if the U.S. went over the fiscal cliff months ago. Now? It is even more clear that even more Americans will side with the rest and pin the blame on Republicans.

Obama went out of his way to go on national t.v. this past Sunday, and was working during his holiday to cut a deal with Mitch McConnell and Biden was there every step of the way.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Republican party growled about having to work, and now they may potentially choose to take their ball home because they couldn't obtain their way on everything.

The American public will bring immense pressure with such hysterical theatrics the house Republicans are portraying. Gerrymandering or not, many registered Republicans not on the fringe will be livid as they should be with their party's Representatives.

1. No he kicked the can down the road 2 months maybe

And 2 months it will be cuts cuts cuts, but those cuts will be SoCal security, Medicare, Medicaid, not defense or negotiating drug prices like the VA or raising the cap o social security. Nt a good jb at all, just digging a deeper hole.

2. That is yet to be determined

Furthermore, you are allowed to assume the worst case scenario while I will assume the best case scenario. Reality is that a ratio of 1:1 cuts will be a victory. And we all know how the house Republicans will snarl at that too....

3. George W. Bush

Would the administration of George W. Bush be satisfied with the kind of "victories" that we celebrate? I think not. Nor did they have to content themselves with that. They got more out of everything they went for than we ever do.

No, I am not satisfied with the way Democrats negotiate. It is beyond weak. And I think anyone who has spent any time in the world can realize that.

It's just that we don't see much other place to turn to. So, to my view, we have to convince ourselves that we got the best we could.

6. The philosophy of no tax raises, ever

The philosophy of never raising taxes is just sheer idiocy, on the face of it. If you want anything to run and provide any essential services at all, you have to pay for it, and for that you have to raise money. That means taxes.

It is high time that Democrats and other people with a brain step forward to defeat this essential idea - that we don't have to pay taxes, that lower taxes are always better, that we shall never raise taxes. It is easy to show the foolishness of those who always put tax breaks forward as the solution. In fact, this has already been done, by President Obama and others. The average American at least can now see that trickle-down economics feels something like piss raining down on you versus some blessed system. The true equation is "no taxes - no services". How you like them apples?

Grover Norquist, by his own admission, came up with his anti-tax pledge when he was TWELVE YEARS OLD!!!! Doesn't that sound right? It is an idea that can only be considered wise by a twelve year-old.

Re-establishing tax breaks for the middle class would surely have been done in the new Congress. Republicans would have been hard-pressed not to follow along.

13. 50/50

Sorry that you feel you have to resort to calling me names, but for instance, the 107th Congress was 50/50. Can you imagine what Republicans would be like if they had percentages like that to work with?

The truth is, the correct principles, stated clearly, cogently, forcefully have the dynamics to change the course of history whenever uttered. What other weapon, exactly, do politicians have?

If Democrats stood by their principles, lived by them, breathed by them, and put them out into the public in a better, more concerted way, who knows what deals we could enact.

Wonder if you will agree with that?

If not, perhaps you haven't experienced such in your own life. But in my life, I have found it to be true.

My wish for Democrats and President Obama is that they know that high principles work and they work effectively. But you have to express them and live by them. Even ordinary citizen, however, will resonate with them, when expressed.

That is how President Obama campaigns, more or less. That is, unfortunately, not how he negotiates. But the Congress could stand on their principles and change all that. Somebody, somewhere has to get much, much better at leading the charge.

5. But the repubs come from safe districts. They fear no public pressure to do anything

that Obama has signed onto. They are threatened by challenges in primaries from their RIGHT, not LEFT! There is no incentive for them to budge an inch. They'll get the blame but so what? They'll still get elected and THAT's the problem!

11. I worry about them too, but when a majority of the billionaires polled want to pay more...

because they know they will not even notice any difference in their daily lives, while they see how much too many people really suffer all around them... It's not like most of them ever really asked for these tax breaks!

It was that dumb dubya, in all his grandstanding full of idiocy, who unilateraly decided to cut their Clinton-era taxes for the sake of idiot-logy.

These die-hard loonies are not growing in numbers so at least there's hope there.